Not sure how the rest of the world handles it, but in Ontario car license plates are assigned to the owner, not the vehicle.

This morning the vehicle in front of me had "1COOL4X4" on the license plate, which would have been fine on a lifted Jeep but the guy was driving a Toyota Corolla.

M60ti, VP180, QS8, M2ti, EP500, PC-Plus 20-39
M5HP, M40ti, Sierra-1
LFR1100 active, ADA1500-4 and -8